U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Penny Pritzker today announced new data that shows 26 states achieved
records in goods exports in 2014, while eight additional states experienced
growth in merchandise exports over 2013 levels. Total merchandise exports from
all 50 states helped the U.S. achieve the fifth consecutive record-setting year
of goods and services exports, which reached $2.35 trillion in 2014.

Secretary
Pritzker praised today’s announcement stressing the fact exports are critical
to economic growth and job creation in communities across the country. “With 95 percent of the world’s consumers
living outside the United States, opening more markets to ‘Made in America’
goods and services is fundamental to our nation’s competitiveness, job
creation, and the economic security of our families,” she said.

Strengthening
partnerships with states and rural communities in support of exporters and
investment attraction efforts is a key objective for the second phase of
President Obama’s National Export Initiative – NEI/NEXT, which Secretary
Pritzker launched in May 2014. Through NEI/NEXT, 20 federal agencies are
advancing program and policy improvements to provide exporters more tailored
assistance and information; streamline export reporting requirements; expand
access to export financing; ensure market access and a level playing field; and
collaborate with state and local organizations.

2015 is off
to a great start for International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and I am
excited and honored to spend the next 12 months as the Chair of our Board of
Directors. In this capacity, I will be traveling the globe and conferring with
my fellow economic developers on many of the pressing issues and opportunities
our profession is facing. One event I am particularly looking forward to
attending is the 2nd SelectUSA Investment
Summit. Having
attended the first Investment Summit in 2013, I can personally attest to the
value of coming to Washington to meet with colleagues from across the U.S.,
hundreds of international investors – I’m told this year’s summit will feature
twice as many investors – and hear from a robust speaking program featuring top
administration leaders in foreign direct investment attraction.

Foreign
direct investment has proven to be a vital tool in the economic developer’s
toolbox in the years following the Great Recession. In my own community,
Saginaw, Michigan, it has contributed to the creation or retention of thousands
of jobs over the past five years. One company, Nexteer, has invested hundreds of millions
of dollars in expanding their operations in Saginaw, which has resulted in thousands
of jobs being created or retained. As an economic developer, I cannot overstate
the importance of the resources that SelectUSA has provided my organization and
countless others within my profession. Simply put: SelectUSA brings clarity,
focus and action to the role of the federal government in supporting FDI
attraction at the local, regional and state level. They are an essential
partner in the work of economic developers to create jobs and improve the
quality of life in our communities. They are also a valued partner of IEDC in
Washington and have played a key role in raising the profile of our profession
over the past few years.

Earlier this week, Deputy Commerce Secretary Bruce Andrews traveled to Minneapolis and provided the keynote address on the Administration’s trade agenda and global opportunities for U.S. businesses in the healthcare and life sciences sectors at the Discover Global Markets Healthcare and Life Sciences Conference. The event was part of the Discover Global Markets series, which is sponsored by the International Trade Administration’s U.S. Commercial Service.

During his remarks, Deputy Secretary Andrews discussed his recent trip to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, stressing the fact that with the world’s largest population, continued prospects for robust growth, and an aging middle class population demanding more health care, China is clearly a market worth a lot of attention from U.S. companies. U.S. businesses generally are well-positioned to provide innovative health care solutions. Deputy Secretary Andrews pointed out success by U.S. companies in healthcare during Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker’s recent healthcare and energy business development mission to Japan and South Korea. He also announced that the Commerce Department is planning three upcoming missions to areas where there are growing needs for U.S. medical products and services: the Philippines and Indonesia; Kenya, South Africa, and Mozambique; and Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.

Because of the increasing recognition of U.S. leadership in medical technologies in the region, Deputy Secretary Andrews also stressed the importance of the need to move forward on broad-based regional agreements like the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trans-Pacific Partnership that will expand exports, grow our economy, and create good jobs.

More broadly, Deputy Secretary Andrews addressed the Administration’s commitment to helping American businesses take advantage of new export opportunities. He specifically outlined the five goals of the revamped NEI NEXT strategy: to help businesses find their NEXT customer abroad; to increase the efficiency of a company’s first and NEXT shipment; to help firms finance their NEXT order; to help communities integrate trade and investment into their NEXT growth plans; and to open up the NEXT big markets around the world while ensuring a level playing field.

While in Minneapolis, Deputy Secretary Andrews also had the opportunity to meet with members of the U.S. Commercial Service and District Export Council, both of whom are valuable partners in Commerce’s efforts to support the U.S. export community.

Last year, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker unveiled the Commerce Department’s “Open for Business Agenda,” a bold policy agenda focused on boosting trade and investment, supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, and unleashing more government data. Yesterday, she took the Agenda on the road to California. Along with Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) National Director Alejandra Castillo, Secretary Pritzker spoke to local businesses and community leaders about the Obama Administration’s work to spur continued economic growth and job creation through support of exporters, entrepreneurs, and small, women- and minority-owned businesses.

Secretary Pritzker joined Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), a strong advocate for minority economic development and trade policy, at a regional economic development forum at the Oakland Airport, hosted by Lee. The Secretary delivered remarks highlighting a number of Commerce Department resources available to help foster economic growth. Noting that exporting is an essential tool for economic development, she discussed the Commerce Department’s NEI/NEXT initiative, a data-based, customer-driven effort to help U.S. companies increase their exports to international markets. Secretary Pritzker also talked about the work of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership to help manufacturers boost productivity and growth, as well as investments by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to help attract new industries and create jobs. Through these and other tools, the Commerce Department is helping businesses in California and across the country to grow and hire.

Following the Secretary’s remarks, MBDA National Director Castillo led a panel discussion on economic development that helped to connect local business leaders and economic development organizations with the expertise of the Department and its resources. The forum featured OPIC’s Director of Corporate Development, Alison Germak; Port of Oakland’s Director of Aviation, Deborah Ale Flint; Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.

Before the event, Secretary Pritzker also participated in a roundtable discussion with East Bay business leaders, hosted by Rep. Lee. They discussed regional economic development, supplier diversity and the importance of gender and ethnic diversity in corporate leadership. Earlier in the day, Secretary Pritzker and San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee met with leaders of local technology companies, including Twitter, Yelp, Kiva, and others, ​to discuss the Department of Commerce’s expanding role as “America’s Data Agency." Secretary Pritzker specifically asked how the government can most effectively make additional data available, and what public-private partnerships are currently serving as strong models that can be replicated when it comes to data dissemination.​

Exports are an important tool for
economic development and job creation, which is why the Obama Administration
has made increased exports a central pillar of its strategy for economic
growth. With the recent launch of NEI/NEXT, the next phase of the successful
National Export Initiative, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Pritzker has made it a
priority to expand the U.S. export base and to help more American businesses of
all sizes – including rural businesses – capitalize on opportunities in foreign
markets.

As part of this effort, Secretary
Pritzker traveled to Memphis, Tennessee Thursday to participate in the “Made in
Rural America” Regional Forum, focused on boosting rural exports. Hosted by the
Delta Regional Authority (DRA), the forum convened
small business owners, industry representatives, business support
organizations, and local, state, and federal leaders to discuss ways to help
rural businesses grow and reach the 95% of customers that live outside our
borders. Secretary Pritzker participated in an armchair discussion with DRA
Federal Co-Chairman Chris Masingill and discussed how we can all work together
to enhance opportunities for businesses in rural communities and how we can
focus on ways to increase exports from the Delta region’s many businesses.
Today’s forum is the second of five regional forums to be held across the
country, aimed at helping local businesses integrate exports into their
economic growth strategies.

At the Forum, Secretary Pritzker
discussed the Commerce Department’s resources to help rural businesses compete
in the global marketplace. The Commerce Department’s International Trade
Administration (ITA) has trade specialists in more than 100 U.S. cities and
over 70 countries worldwide to help companies take advantage of business
opportunities abroad and connect them to trade events, foreign buyers, and
other partners. In fact, about 85 percent of ITA’s clients are small and
medium-sized businesses, and on average 38 percent are rural exporters.

Since the launch of the NEI in 2010, 1.6 million more
Americans are earning a paycheck from an export-supported job, bringing the
total to 11.3 million jobs – the highest in 20 years.

Exports are critical to the U.S economy. They fuel economic growth in our communities, support good middle class jobs, and unlock opportunity for American companies, entrepreneurs, farmers, ranchers, and workers, enabling U.S. companies to compete in the growing global marketplace. By selling Made-in-America goods and services to international customers, U.S. businesses – including small and medium-sized and minority- and women-owned businesses – are able to grow faster, hire more employees, pay higher wages, and help spread American ideas, innovation and values.

Recognizing the many opportunities exports create for our economy, U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker today announced that the Obama Administration will build on the success of the National Export Initiative (NEI) by launching NEI/NEXT: a new customer service-driven strategy with improved information resources that will ensure American businesses are fully able to capitalize on expanded opportunities to sell their goods and services abroad. NEI/NEXT will help more American companies reach more overseas markets by improving data, providing information on specific export opportunities, working more closely with financing organizations and service providers, and partnering with states and communities to empower local export efforts.

In 2010, President Obama launched the National Export Initiative (NEI), a comprehensive government-wide effort to help U.S. companies increase exports, expand into new markets, and compete globally. Under the NEI, the United States has had four straight record-breaking years of exports – hitting an all-time high of $2.3 trillion dollars last year – up $700 billion from 2009. A new economic report released today by the Department of Commerce, shows that nearly one-third of the country’s economic growth since mid-2009 has been driven by exports. Nearly 30,000 businesses have started exporting for the first time. And most importantly, since 2009, the number of jobs supported by exports has grown by 1.6 million to more than 11.3 million – the highest in 20 years.

Even with all this success, far too many American companies remain focused on domestic markets. Less than 5 percent of U.S. companies export, and more than half of those exporters sell to only one market. To help bridge that gap, and look for new opportunities to help U.S. businesses export, the Department of Commerce, along with 20 federal agency partners last year began to take a fresh look at the NEI. This interagency group solicited extensive stakeholder feedback and incorporated lessons learned under the NEI, to develop an economic growth strategy that would help make trade a central part of America’s economic DNA. The end product of that interagency review, NEI/NEXT will take the NEI strategy to next level by institutionalizing our progress from the past four years and serving as a framework to guide the development of new, innovative initiatives.

NEI/NEXT will be implemented through the Export Promotion Cabinet and Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee (TPCC), which consists of representatives from 20 federal departments and agencies with export-related programs. The Secretary of Commerce chairs the TPCC.

Today, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced NEI/NEXT – a
data-based, customer service-driven initiative to ensure that more
American businesses can fully capitalize on markets that are opening up
around the world. Through five core objectives, NEI/NEXT will build on
Administration-wide achievements under the National Export Initiative
(NEI), to help all businesses reach the 95 percent of consumers who live
outside the United States.

If you missed her speech, below is a collection of tweets from her account and audience members that summarizes her remarks.